! . 

AUSTIN U.TEXAR 

November 18, 1959 

Mr. D. C. Greer 

State Highway Engineer 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion No. W-735 

Re: The extent of the 

restrictions to be applied because of the 

words "District Office 

buildings" in the rider 

to the Current General 

Appropriation Bill (H.B. 

4, Acts 56th Leg., 3rd 

Called Session, 1959, 

Cha ter 23, pages 442, 

Dear Mr. Greer: 591 P . 

In your request for an opinion you state as 

follows: 

"On:+ of the riders in the State Hlghway Depar.Ln!ent's section of the.current 

General Appropriation Bill states as follows: 

"'None of the funds appropriated 'to 

the State Highway Department may be exPended 

for the'construction of any District Offi& 

building ata Cost exceeding Sixteen Dollars 

($16) per square foot in constructioncosts 

including engineering and architectural fees.' 

"In carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the State Highway Department under 

law to construct and maintain a State Highway 

System, it is necessary that several different 

kinds of buildings be constructed and utilized. 

The Department maintains District Headquarters 

at 25 locations in the State. At each of these 

locations, it has proved advisable to construct 

warehouse buildings, shop buildings, equipment 

storage buildings, laboratory buildings, and 

service station buildings, in addition to an 

office building which provides space necessary 
Mr. D. C. Greer, p?,;Se 2(WW-735) 

to aar.?y on the major portion of the office 

work required to be done by each District. 

It has proved necessary and advisable for 

the Department to construct certain buildings 

at local Headquarters within each District. 

These buildings usually provide warehouse 

facilities, storage for highway equipment, 

servicing for highway equipment, and some 

office space for the supervisory personnel. 

At some of these locations, buildings are 

constructed to provide office and working 

space for Resident Engineers and buildings 

for laboratory work. Other miscellaneous 

buildings are constructed from time to time 

to meet the needs of the Department in carrying our its assigned responsibilities. Some 

of these buildings, by their very nature, are 

c?leaper to construct that an office building 

cdould be, while others require a specialized 

type of design and construction which make 

them more expensive to build. Examples of 

the latter are our laboratory buildings, two 

of which are presently in the planning stage. 

,, 

. . . 

!'We fzl that the specific wording of 

the provision restricts its application to 

the District Office buildings and that it 

would not apply to the other specialized 

structures we construct. We have discussed 

this matter with members of the Comptroller's 

staff and they are inclined to agree, but 

feel that they cannot pay for a building costing more than $16 per square foot until the 

provision has been so interpreted by your 

Department. . . .' 

In 39 Texas Jurisprudence 137, Statutes, Section 105, 

we find the following rule stated: 

"One of the primary and settled rules 

of construction is that words in common use, 

when contained in a statute, will be read 

according to their natural, ordinary and 

popular meaning." 

This rule was followed by the Supreme Court of Texas 

in Texas Bank & Trust Co. v. Austin, 115 Tex. 201, 280 S.W. 
. . 

Mr. D. C. Greer, sage 3 (WW-735) 

161. I!e believe that the natural, ordinary and popular 

meaning of the words "office building" is a building of offices or rooms in which administration is conducted and 

office work is done. It follows, then, that district office 

buildings would be those buildings at the District Headquarters 

of the Texas Highway Department in which the major portion of 

the office work is done. 

It is our opinion that the statutory language quoted 

in your letter was not intended to apply to warehouse buildings, 

shop buildings, equipment storage buildings, laboratory buildings and service station buildings, but that it does apply to 

ali district office buildings which provide space necessary to 

carry on the major portion of the office work required to be 

done by such District. 

JH:mfh 

APPROVED: 

SUMMARY 

The words "District Office building" 

in the rider to the current General 

Appropriation Bill (House Bill 4, 

Acts of the 56th Legislature, Third 

Called Session, 1959, Chapter 23, pages 

442, 591), do not apply to warehouse 

buildings, shop buildings, equipment 

storage buildings, laboratory buildings, 

and service station buildings, but they 

do apply to all district office buildings. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Atto ney General of Texas 

BY %-au 

Jay Howell 

Assistant 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

J. C. Davis,Jr.Chairman 

Raymond V. Loftin 

Grundy Williams 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Leonard Passmore